While this is a joke thread, seeing people argue for the allowance of the word "faggot" solely because "oh that's how it's always been and we shouldn't ban simple trash talk" is the worst argument possible. It's a very derogatory slur both online and in real life, and while "nigger" may seem worse just because it's a racial slur, you're likely to catch the same flak for saying "faggot" (at least from what I've personally witnessed and read).

The only people who regularly use the term "faggot" on our servers are people whose sole purpose is to have a toxic presence on whatever server they're playing on. I know because I play with them and it's rather annoying seeing the chat flooded with variants of "DIE you dumb faggot," yet if the same person solely dropped the word "nigger" with nothing attached to it in chat they'd be silenced.

My argument is that we won't lose anyone of value if we start silencing for the word "faggot," mostly because the vast majority of players don't even use that word, with those who do making up the "toxic asshole" demographic. There's so many other ways to trash talk without normalizing the use of slurs, let's let creativity flourish in our in-game chat. I'd much rather see someone come up with something like "degenerate asswipe" instead of "faggot."

While this is a joke thread, seeing people argue for the allowance of the word "faggot" solely because "oh that's how it's always been and we shouldn't ban simple trash talk" is the worst argument possible. It's a very derogatory slur both online and in real life, and while "nigger" may seem worse just because it's a racial slur, you're likely to catch the same flak for saying "faggot" (at least from what I've personally witnessed and read).

The only people who regularly use the term "faggot" on our servers are people whose sole purpose is to have a toxic presence on whatever server they're playing on. I know because I play with them and it's rather annoying seeing the chat flooded with variants of "DIE you dumb faggot," yet if the same person solely dropped the word "nigger" with nothing attached to it in chat they'd be silenced.

My argument is that we won't lose anyone of value if we start silencing for the word "faggot," mostly because the vast majority of players don't even use that word, with those who do making up the "toxic asshole" demographic. There's so many other ways to trash talk without normalizing the use of slurs, let's let creativity flourish in our in-game chat. I'd much rather see someone come up with something like "degenerate asswipe" instead of "faggot."

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If you're using faggot to disparage someone for being gay, they already get banned. It's not something I use, but it's something I see quite often. There are plenty of features in the game to deal with people without needing to police every single slur that's used. I don't agree that it's a very derogatory slur, context matters with it. People refer to their friends all the time in that matter. Perhaps you live in a more liberal area than I do, but I don't think if I said fag in a public space anyone would really care, whereas if I said the other thing, they would.

Are we banning "cunt" because sometimes it is used specifically to insult a woman? It just seems stupid to disregard the context of how things are used.

If you’re gonna ban faggot, you better be prepared to ban “retard”, “stupid”, “cunt”, “bitch”, etc. Again, if we are going to try to maintain a strong community presence as long as we can, disallowing those with small dicks to overcompensate by calling someone a rude word isn’t going to help. Just gotta man/woman up. *shrug*

If you're using faggot to disparage someone for being gay, they already get banned. It's not something I use, but it's something I see quite often. There are plenty of features in the game to deal with people without needing to police every single slur that's used. I don't agree that it's a very derogatory slur, context matters with it. People refer to their friends all the time in that matter. Perhaps you live in a more liberal area than I do, but I don't think if I said fag in a public space anyone would really care, whereas if I said the other thing, they would.

Are we banning "cunt" because sometimes it is used specifically to insult a woman? It just seems stupid to disregard the context of how things are used.

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I can probably count on one hand the amount of times someone has been banned for the use of homophobic slurs, and it's entirely because we normalized that type of behavior by only punishing for racial slurs.

It definitely is a very derogatory slur, and while it may not be in your neck of the woods, try saying it in a public/professional setting and not catching flak for it. People have lost their jobs just as easily for saying "faggot" as they have for saying "nigger." I also find it funny that you said people call their friends "faggot" all the time like that makes it okay. Shitty people call their friends "niggers" too, it doesn't justify the use of a slur.

If you’re gonna ban faggot, you better be prepared to ban “retard”, “stupid”, “cunt”, “bitch”, etc. Again, if we are going to try to maintain a strong community presence as long as we can, disallowing those with small dicks to overcompensate by calling someone a rude word isn’t going to help. Just gotta man/woman up. *shrug*

Additionally mute has been a built in function in TF2 since forever. It's comically easy to block shit talkers in video games.

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It's comically easy to silence someone whose being racist over the mic, but it's still against the rules to be racist. Why allow a word that basically exists solely to disparage a minority group?

I don't give a shit about being trash-talked in game, but it is kinda concerning that so many people are normalizing behavior solely because "it's a game." Nobody here would say it's cool to call random people on the streets "faggots," so I don't understand the thought process

I can probably count on one hand the amount of times someone has been banned for the use of homophobic slurs, and it's entirely because we normalized that type of behavior by only punishing for racial slurs.

It definitely is a very derogatory slur, and while it may not be in your neck of the woods, try saying it in a public/professional setting and not catching flak for it. People have lost their jobs just as easily for saying "faggot" as they have for saying "nigger." I also find it funny that you said people call their friends "faggot" all the time like that makes it okay. Shitty people call their friends "niggers" too, it doesn't justify the use of a slur.

Literally none of those are slurs.

It's comically easy to silence someone whose being racist over the mic, but it's still against the rules to be racist. Why allow a word that basically exists solely to disparage a minority group?

I don't give a shit about being trash-talked in game, but it is kinda concerning that so many people are normalizing behavior solely because "it's a game." Nobody here would say it's cool to call random people on the streets "faggots," so I don't understand the thought process

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I really don't hear of anyone calling their friend "niggers". My point is that whether you agree or disagree, it's normalized. And why exactly isn't "cunt" considered a slur? You could absolutely make the same argument you have with faggot against cunt. I really don't think it's a wise thing to start banning relatively normal slurs on top of the big bad ones. I've always felt the only things that should be policed are things that the regular player could not possibly deal with, or someone being abundantly toxic. The more things you start banning people for, the smaller your player base gets. Some of the reasons people choose skial is because they don't have to worry about saying the wrong word and what not.